I know there haven't been many updates lately but that's because I've been working on a new website to post them on! We will stop posting here, so please go there for all Goldbar Games updates from now on!We've got a real update on the new site, so go read it!We've had this blog for two years, and it's amazing that you guys are still waiting for updates. Thank you all for sticking around! And we hope you'll continue to support and be a part of the future of Goldbar Games!

Okay, bad joke on the last post. It's been a busy few months, so let's get to it!We've been working on Witch Doctor Kaneko, and will continue to do so over the summer. Here's what's happened so far:PROGRAMMINGWe're using the Unity game engine. I've had a lot of experience with C# during the semester on school work, so it's been relatively easy to figure things out. Here is a screenshot of what the game currently looks like, using place holder art. I'm taking a functional approach to level design, where so far I've been programming bits and pieces before combining them together to make an actual level. We'll see if this holds up to be a good idea or not later on!GRAPHICSWhile we still don't officially have an artist, I've been asking a few of my artist friends to teach me. So I've been doing my best to improve my own artwork, which can be found here. We're still in the concept stage, so no *real* art for Kaneko so far, but you can see a quick drawing I made here.MUSICSolo Acapello has contributed an amazing theme song. I don't want to spoil the whole thing right now, but you can listen to a preview below:

OVERALL PROGRESSIt makes me happy that I can say we're definitely getting somewhere. Again, I don't want to say too much before I know what I'm talking about, but I think we've decided on something really unique for the main gameplay. I want to implement it and then test it to see if it needs any tweaking, and we're almost at that stage. After that I'll talk here about the gameplay itself, and the world and characters as we get to designing them.In theory, it's possible we could get it done before summer is over. However, we'll see how things go. I'd prefer to keep the game smaller scale so that I know I can get it finished, but I also want it to be long enough to be enjoyable.-Endless Witch-Doctor, Kinjo Goldbar

Today is my birthday. I am now 20 years old.And I just bought a ton of Mario plushies from Comic Con.Quite a few friends and fans have already congratulated me, so thanks for all of the birthday wishes! I may keep getting older, but I still feel like a kid, hahaha!My passion for making video games began in my early childhood, from playing games such as Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo. I hope that one day my games can reach that level and are just as much fun for others to play! Video games have great influence on people, and so I want to make sure I do my part and create fun games that will make people happy!Anyway, I'm working on Kaneko and the more I learn about Unity the more I want to start developing Detective Butler for it. I definitely have some good plans for both games, but for now I'll stay quiet!Have a great weekend, everyone!-Kinjo

Hello again! Spring break is upon me now so I'll be able to get some things done. Speaking of which, I've programmed an Umineko Screenshot Generator in ONscripter. You will need Umineko EP8 to use it. Simply drop it in the Umineko8 folder, just like any other Umineko patch.You may download it here.If there are any bugs I failed to fix, please let me know!I hope it's useful to some of you!-Kinjo

Hello! It's been almost a month, so let's update!Maybe I spoke too soon. Witch Doctor Kaneko is still in the planning stages, so there isn't much I can reveal about it yet. And I'd rather reveal things down the road when I know they're going to happen, rather than get up false hopes and have to backtrack later on. So believe me, I'll reveal more details when the moment is right. It's just not now.That said, there's one very important thing which I can mention. Witch Doctor Kaneko will be created using the Unity game engine. I feel extremely optimistic about this decision, because you can pretty much do anything you want in Unity, as long as you have the motivation. And believe me, I do!To show you an example of Unity's power (and my own skill), I reproduced a very memorable scene from the first episode of Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Be warned, there are spoilers! You may view the video here! I was able to program it in less than a week's time, so Unity has been very easy to get the hang of. I've continued messing around with Unity and made a very basic platformer engine, which I'm liking so far. I'll continue to be hard at work on both ideas and programming, and the best part is that I will be able to show some of these things off! Until then~-Kinjo

Alright, I think it's about time for another update. There are a number of things I want to discuss this time, so let's get right to it!So, to follow up the previous post: Detective Butler EP2 hasn't made any progress. I want to make it official that Detective Butler EP2 will be on hold until further notice. Firstly, I honestly don't feel like I have the necessary experience to make the game the way it should be made. From both a mystery-crafting and writing perspective, I'm just not skilled enough right now. I don't want leave it to the other members to do like EP2 was starting to become. Until then, I'd like to work on something within my skillset. Secondly, the necessary assets are going to be too costly, and without a solid game plan, there's no point in hunting down artists who will work for free. So from a business standpoint, we really can't afford to dedicate time to EP2. Also keep in mind that we have four episodes planned, so I would expect the series to take several years to actually complete. Again, I could be more efficient.I've actually wanted to move away from the EVN community for a while now. We are Goldbar Games, not Goldbar Books or Novels or anything like that. It's about time we got started making real games. Don't get me wrong; I'm incredibly thankful for our fans, who really do appreciate and enjoy our VNs. Unfortunately, not everyone is so kind; most prefer to mock EVNs and their creators. Sure, any community might have those kinds of people, but they're far too commonplace on the EVN scene for me to pretend it's not a problem. Video games should be used to make people happy, not to hurt them. So, that said, we'll be exploring uncharted territory in 2014, and I'm very excited for it! Now I'll go ahead and announce our newest project, tentatively titled Witch Doctor Kaneko!

As you can see, the character design for Kaneko has undergone a lot of changes, and the sprites above probably won't be final. Speaking of that, unless a miracle occurs, I will be doing the artwork for this game. Not that I mind -- I think I can handle pixel art. What matters more to me is having a team that works well together. If everyone shares a common goal, anything is possible!But who is Kaneko, you ask? She's a kind-hearted witch doctor who must platform through levels and defeat various monsters with her powerful magic! We're still working out some gameplay mechanics, but we've come up with some interesting ideas so far. Prepare to immerse yourself in a fantasy world filled with fun and adventure!More details to be released soon!-Kinjo

Results for the previous poll: Favorite video game genre? Simulation 26.7%, Strategy 20%, Adventure 20%, Puzzle 13.3%, RPG 13.3%, Visual Novel: 6.7%, Action 0%So my winter break has come to an end. Where does Goldbar Games stand?Well, let's take a look!Detective Butler EP2 is still in planning stages. A rather insignificant portion of writing is finished, but most of the plot is still being worked on. I feel very good about it though. Our team frequently discusses the plot as both a story and as a mystery, constantly refining our vision of the game. At this rate, the second episode is going to be longer and better than the first one. The story will be packed with significantly more content, and I'm doing my best to ensure that content is of the best quality.

We've just begun on the music. So far it's coming along nicely. I cleaned up a lot of the game's code, and the internal structure is much more pleasant. I'll probably be sticking with ONscripter for EP2 unless I learn how to work the Kirikiri game engine. It was fun to mess with, but replicating the design I had for EP1 takes a lot of jumping through hoops that I can't seem to figure out. The documentation is all in Japanese, so I've only gotten as far as Google Translate can take me. Any help there is appreciated!Graphics are an issue of their own, however. It kind of puts me in a difficult position. Being a free game, it's not very cost-effective to be paying for graphics. For that reason, something is going to need to change. We're still a fledgling group and don't have any resources other than personal ones and donations. There haven't been sufficient donations to safely say that graphics for EP2 are affordable. So now I'm at a crossroads (again) concerning graphics.In any event, I'm anticipating 2014 will be a very productive year. My goals are to release something each Comiket (summer and winter) at the very least, for the sake of keeping content coming. As we build more games, we'll learn how to make better ones. That helps out both you and me.I'd like to reveal some of my plans for a new game, in full detail, on the blog next month. Look forward to reading about it!-Kinjo

Happy New Year's Eve! Just in time for Winter Comiket, as usual, I've got a new game for download:On the Night of Kinjo's Redemption. It's a Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni fangame, probably the first (and last) of its kind.The sequel to the fangame Repercussion of the Golden Witch, this story takes place in the world of Higanbana. Ozaki, a newly recruited science teacher at Spider Lily High School, becomes involved in a series of supernatural murders. Is the culprit a human or a youkai? Will Ozaki solve the case, or die trying?

Warning: This fangame contains spoilers for the fangame Repercussion and the official Higanbana visual novels.Read at your own risk!Note: You must have Higanbana: The Second Night installed to play the game. Download the folder and place it in your "Higanbana2" folder. Then run onscripter-en.exe to begin playing. Have fun, and Happy New Year!-Kinjo

I've been meaning to make this post ever since it turned December.But now I know exactly what I want to say.Quite a bit has happened since the last update. Starting off with a pleasant surprise, we now have a musician on the team, Solo Acapello. He expressed great interest in joining the team, and he enjoys mystery novels just as much as we do, so there's no doubt his music will improve Detective Butler.Speaking of that, we've made a lot of progress there in general. I've been taking quite a few photos for backgrounds, and the whole team is constantly brainstorming various ideas to make sure the plot is more solid than ever.However, we are coming up short in the graphics department. That's good, in my opinion, because getting too hasty with pretty pictures can lead to a decline in the overall product. Unfortunately that means I can't really show anything off here, but I suppose that's for the best (and it's something you're all probably used to by now).Nonetheless, there will be a new visual novel for download before the New Year....That's a promise; you have my word. I'd like to keep it a secret for now, but those of you who have been following us long enough may have a slight idea of what it may be. Try not to get your hopes up too much, though.It won't be Butler EP2. According to my current game plan, it certainly won't be possible to get EP2 out in a few weeks. What we'll be doing is finalizing all ideas, forming them into a well-polished story, and then over winter break I'll do the majority of the writing. We'll also begin making music over break. After that, we'll be ready to move on to graphics in the spring. You could say, then, that summer is the earliest possible date for EP2. I'd like to go on the safe side and suggest that winter is a much more likely possibility. In either case, it is my goal to cut the development time in half, from two years to one, per episode.But don't worry! I can get something else out during the summer, too -- that other game idea I mentioned in the previous blog post. I don't have enough of it fleshed out to really say anything on the website about it, but it is definitely something I'm working on. Hopefully I can get some sort of a demo up soon.You may also notice that we're no longer in any collaborations. Simply put, we have enough difficulty getting our own projects done, so it's really inefficient to try and double the workload. Maybe one day, but now is far too early.-Kinjo